Yankees Greg Bird: First Of Many Firsts To Come Came Last Night

Yankees fans watched with joy as one of their players became the first to hit a home run at Sun Trust Park in Atlanta. But, this is destined to be the first of many firsts we see from this 24-year old.

The Yankees Greg Bird reminds of the man he’s replacing in so many ways. Quiet and unassuming, he’s almost an afterthought in the Yankees lineup. Except that he’s a run-producing machine with a sweet swing that launches balls into the night on a regular basis.

Mark Teixeira was that way too when he was young. Except that many fans probably don’t remember him that way. More likely, they recall that he was always injured and was hardly a presence when he did play.

That is unfortunate, though, because Teixeira was a mainstay in the Yankees lineup before that, and even before that with the Texas Rangers and Baltimore Orioles. You could pencil him in for 30-35 home runs, 100-120 RBI, and 90-100 runs scored in any given season.

Greg Bird has all the makings of duplicating, or perhaps even exceeding those numbers, in a Yankees uniform for the next decade.

Bird hit his eighth home run of the spring last night, and it happened to be the first ever hit at the newly baptized home of the Atlanta Braves, Sun Trust Park. Here’s the video courtesy of MLB:

Bird’s home run is not likely to be remembered years from now in the same way that Yankee fans can recall Mickey Mantle hitting the first home run at the Houston Astrodome in the early 1960’s. But maybe it will be because Greg Bird is just getting started.

In the early part of the spring, there were serious questions surrounding Bird, and most of them revolved around his health and the degree to which he would rebound from an injury that caused him to miss all of 2016.

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Concern increased when he had a less than auspicious 2017 debut in the Arizona Fall League. In fact, the team was so concerned they went out and spent three million dollars to acquire the services of Chris Carter who, largely because of Brid’s production, now clogs up a seat on the Yankees bench.

Bird, when he steps into the batter’s box, does not seem to loom large in the same way that Alex Rodriguez did and Giancarlo Stanton does. Bird is 6’4′ tall, but his 220 pounds is spread evenly over his body, and he looks more like a Paul O’Neill standing in there. Loose and lanky, the power surprises.

Although he did hit one completely out of George Steinbrenner Field this spring, the home run he hit last night off Bartolo Colon was more typical. Seeming to be even a little off balance, he managed to get the sweet spot of his bat on the ball raising one of those majestic moon shots into the night air in Georgia.

With a Yankees lineup that features Gary Sanchez ahead of him and Matt Holiday tucked in nicely behind him, Bird can expect to be pitched to. And while his eight home runs over thirty some games this spring projects to more than forty over the regular season, the Yankees would be satisfied with 30 or so and 100 driven in.

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And much like his predecessor Teixeira, who labored under the spotlight absorbed by Derek Jeter, A-Rod, inc., Bird will likely perform in the shadow of Sanchez and later this season of Gleyber Torres when he’s called up.

No matter. Greg Bird will be in there every day doing his job as one of those lunch-pail-carrying players who show up every day, producing.